It means to let people ask questions and to answer them. I think it probably comes from baseball, where there are three players who stand in the remote area called the outfield and catch balls that fly toward them.

It means to let people ask questions and to answer them. I think it probably comes from baseball, where there are three players who stand in the remote area called the outfield and catch balls that fly toward them.

It means to let people ask questions and to answer them. I think it probably comes from baseball, where there are three players who stand in the remote area called the outfield and catch balls that fly toward them.

Would it be from cricket before that?

I think that whatever game developed into baseball is as old as whatever game developed into cricket. Baseball didn't come from cricket. If you search for the exact phrase "field the ball" from UK websites, you get pages many sports, including baseball and rugby. The only way we can know anything is to see how old that usage of "field" actually is. If it's from the 1700s, there's just as good a chance it came from baseball as from cricket, and if it's from before that, it could have come from rounders.

I don't actually believe that source. I imagine they were just checking British sources. Notice that it says the meaning was "first recorded" in 1823. That doesn't mean first used. If it had been used only in association with cricket and only that late, then it would have crossed to America only in the figurative meaning and probably wouldn't be used in baseball. My guess is that the expression predates both baseball and cricket.